Hello Everyone,

My name is Howie, and I'm a 24 y/o college student. I have been reading this forum for about a few weeks now, and some of the awesome insight that some members have brought to the table here, has been invaluable. Early this December, I decided to embark on building a community, for my fellow U.S. military, around a concept that I would deem unique (aren't they all?...lol).....Surprisingly, with a little free advertisement, alone, it's really started to take off.....it has gained almost 250 members in this first month.....a solid base of active/ participating members.....This is my first attempt at doing something like this.....and, I'm full of so many questions.....

Iv'e seen examples of other forums that have actually taken there message board to a company-type status.....has anyone ever done this? I currently have my message board through proboards.....and I have a domain name secured through OneSite, because the initial idea was to build it into a social networking site, like MySpace or Facebook.....where users could build profiles and interact.....it's becoming clear that this project is becoming multifaceted.....and, with the growth it's experienced, I don't quite know where to take it.....because Iv'e never done this before......

I had established immediate avenues for free advertisement....such as a 'support the troops' facebook group, which is now the largest troop support group on facebook with well over 130,000 members....and growing at about a rate of 2,000 new members a day....

These are the stats for the facebook group......
1,000 Members at 10:57 PM (EST) 11/06/2007
2,000 Members at 5:24 AM (EST) 11/08/2007
3,000 Members at 7:37 PM (EST) 11/08/2007
4,000 Members at 9:36 AM (EST) 11/09/2007
5,000 Members at 5:28 PM (EST) 11/09/2007
6,000 Members at 11:43 AM (EST) 11/10/2007
7,000 Members at 7:37 AM (EST) 11/11/2007
8,000 Members at 6:39 PM (EST) 11/11/2007
10,000 Members at 1:53 PM (EST) 11/12/2007
11,000 Members at 6:30 PM (EST) 11/12/2007
12,000 Members at 11:00 PM (EST) 11/12/2007
13,000 Members at 11:00 AM (EST) 11/13/2007
19,000 Members at 11:00 PM (EST) 11/13/2007
20,000 Members at 9:30 AM (EST) 11/14/2007
28,000 Members at 11:15 PM (EST) 11/16/2007
40,000 Members at 11:00 PM (EST) 11/19/2007
50,000 Members at 11:00 PM (EST) 11/21/2007
80,000 Members at 9:30 PM (EST) 11/29/2007
90,000 Members at 6:00 PM (EST) 12/2/2007
101,000 Members at 7:00 PM (EST) 12/5/2007
117,000 Members at 6:00 PM (EST) 12/10/2007
120,000 Members at 8:00 PM (EST) 12/11/2007
134,000 Members at 10:00 PM (EST) 12/25/2007

..........I decided that it would be cool to develop an "external community" for that group.....and, have had the link posted at the very top of the group for the last few days now......with immediate exposure to those new people....some who are military, and some who aren't......

Iv'e begun delegating tasks such as recruiting and advertising to some who have been extremely active.....I put my writing skills to work, and developed an entire concept around the 'characterization' that this message board revolves around.....and, it's nice to see people reacting with interest.....at something that a tremendous amount of time has gone into...so far.....

it would be awesome to see this thread turn into one that could prove to be an invaluable resource to others.....

Would anyone here be able to provide some guidance? I know this is long....but, perhaps, this could turn out to be a very informative thread that others could benefit from, as well?
What would you all do if you were in this situation? I really do feel like it's grown very well, with alot of participation and interaction......a very solid platform to build upon....but, i also think the concept could become a tremendous resource that is deserving of its own domain, apart from proboards.....

I know I can't post a link to my forum here....but, is there a place where I could go, in this forum....to have someone look at it, and perhaps give insight into it's structure and content?

Thank you, all! and, have a great New Years!

has anyone here had any experience using Facebook, or MySpace, to advertise their forums/communities? Is my first month's forum growth about normal for what everyone here has achieved?....I realize that this will be different for varying forums, but, is over 200 members a decent membership growth for the first month?.....should i try to aim for 5-10 new members a day at first?.....

also....i feel that facebook....with completely free advertising using their group's platform has helped out tremendously.....between MySpace bulletins and Facebook.....actually paying for advertisement seems like something I may not have to consider for a little while......I'm not sure if anyone has ever used facebook group's like this.....but, it really seems to be working in this case.....has anyone had experience using myspace or facebook in helping to grow your communities?

oh, and can I put my forum in my signature here? I don't want to break the rules.....I'm sure you all get enough of that already.....lol

Wow, that's really fast growth! You should be very proud of yourself.

You can go into your control panel and set up a forum signature which will appear beneath all of your posts. Additionally, you can request feedback about your site in our Website Reviews forum (in the Web Development category).

Cheers!

Great i was hoping for this let me make my thread to review my site Thanks to All Daniweb Team